A tale of two Taylors: Swift No. 1, James No. 3 on Billboard Artist 100

Taylor Swift tops the Billboard Artist 100 (dated July 4) for a record-extending 30th week, remaining the top musical act in the U.S. Meanwhile, James Taylor blasts onto the chart at No. 3.

The Artist 100 is the first weekly survey dedicated to measuring artist activity across Billboard's most influential charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. The Artist 100 blends data measuring album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

While Swift stays atop the Artist 100, The Weeknd holds at No. 2, his best rank. Folk/pop icon James Taylor, for whom Swift was named (and whom she namechecks in her 2012 hit "Begin Again") bounds onto the chart at No. 3, powered by the arrival of his album Before This World. His latest becomes his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after a 45-year wait since his first entry and starts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with 96,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Music.

While album sales account for essentially all of Taylor's Artist 100 activity, the new set's "Today Today Today" spends a second week at its No. 30 peak to-date on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart. (The song is his 39th on the list and first since 2009.)

New to the Artist 100's top 10, OMI makes a 20-9 splash (up 22 percent). The Jamaican reggae artist soars thanks to the success of his breakout single "Cheerleader," which charges 7-4 on the Hot 100. Digital song sales mark his greatest Artist 100 points contributor, as "Cheerleader" rises 3-2 on Digital Songs, up 18 percent to 159,000 downloads sold.

Among debuts on the Artist 100 this week, Third Eye Blind bows at No. 67, fueled entirely by the arrival of its fifth studio set, Dopamine, which opens on Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums at No. 3 and Top Album Sales at No. 7 (22,000). On Top Rock Albums, the new set marks the band's first entry since 2009, when Ursa Major, its last studio release, debuted at No. 1. TEB broke through with its No. 4-peaking Hot 100 hit "Semi-Charmed Life" in 1997 and added two more top 10s that helped define the alt-pop sound dominant in the late '90s: "How's It Going to Be" (No. 9, 1998) and "Jumper" (No. 5, 1999).

Also new on the Artist 100, Canaan Smith starts at No. 98. A hit song is his main driver of activity, as "Love You Like That" becomes his first top 10 on Hot Country Songs (11-10). The song drew 37 million in radio audience (up 6 percent) and sold 25,000 downloads (up 7 percent) in the tracking week.